Dutch ship owner C-Bed has contracted Wärtsilä Ship Design to supply the design for rebuilding its Seismic Survey Vessel, the ‘Viking II’, for use as a hotel vessel. 

The rebuilt ship is used to accommodate and transfer service personnel working on offshore wind farms. The rebuild project was carried out at the Fayard AS shipyard in Denmark and was completed during the first quarter of 2016.

Wärtsilä provided the original designs for the ‘Viking II’ earlier known as ‘Veritas Viking II’, which was delivered in 1999 to the original owners, Eidesvik of Norway. After the conversion, the vessel will have accommodation and hotel facilities for 125 people and will feature a heave compensated gangway. The converted vessel will fulfil the requirements for Special Purpose Ships and will in the future be named ‘Wind Innovation’.

Wärtsilä has considerable experience in producing designs for the offshore wind turbine market, both for service vessels as well as for installation applications. Conversion projects are becoming of increasing interest for owners since there is a current over-supply of ships in many of the offshore application markets.